06 January 2010
Trend Hunting
1 - In 2010 real people who you know, not geeks, will switch their family and personal calendars out of that that blasted book in the kitchen (you-think-you're-going-out-do-you?-well-its-not-written-in-the-diary) and on to their iphones and blackberries. Calendars belong in the cloud. Before the end of this year you'll be inviting your friends for a beer electronically.
2 - Before the year is over you'll discover one of your friends is taking a smart-drug like Modafinil and Adderral or Ritalin. Unless you already have. Or perhaps you already do. And if your friend is buying it off-prescription then congratulations: they've joined the war on the drugs. On the dark side.
3 - At some point between now and the General Election you will come across the Pirate Party somewhere other than on my blog.
4 - Just starting up in 2010 public opinion will almost imperceptibly start to shift against cats, in a few short years time it will come to seem incredible that we tolerated such carnage amongst small animals, and put up with so much cat mess in our flower beds. It wasn't so long ago that we shrugged at dog mess in our parks and pavements.. once that tide turned it didn't take long
5 - During 2010 it will become possible, in polite society, to criticise the values of Islam.
6 - If you are not on Facebook already then you will join it in 2010, which is ironic as in rerospect 2010 will be recognised as Facebook's zenith, the last year of unstoppable ascendancy. Before the end of 2010 doubts will appear.
Your task is to rank these predictions in order of likelihood.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
9 comments:
Wow, point 5 is controversial. Most don't know enough about Islam to critique it rationally. Western media does not portray the religion or it's followers in an unbiased, objective manner.
Not to go totally low brow and quote the Simpsons, but...
Homer: Animals are crapping in our houses and we're picking it up. Did we lose a war? That's not America! That's not even Mexico!
@anon - somehow I think a tide is starting to turn
@scribbler - :-) excellent!
We are headed down a slippery slope. No good will come of this.
@anon - you may be right. On the other hand we are already sliding down the slippery slope of excessive respect for any idea or prejudice that is deemed 'religious', and no good can come from that either. :-(
No.1 has already happened. No.2 is a mystery to me... smart drug? Doesn't that defeat the object of rebellion?! No.3 Really? Who? No.4 I think, very likely, sadly. No.5 Oh I hope so. Jimmy Carr said: "Scientology is a religion with no credibility because it's completely made-up. Unlike all the other religions..." No.6 Yes. Absolutely. But what will replace it? Surely not Twitter? I think that's had it zenith already. And a underwhelming zenith it was too. The most amazing thing about Twitter is how it can transform otherwise intelligent and witty people into incredible dullards. Just check out Stephen Frys tweets... at your own risk!
I think twitter has morphed into something completely different from what it was presented to be at the start... It's not about reporting what you had for breakfast (altho it can be), it seems to be now a medium to exchange ideas, to follow trends and news, and to push information in the direction of people who you couldn't otherwise reach out to.
I think this style of communication is of a new and different type from anything available before, and quite interesting, and here to stay.
facebook's achilles heel is its closed nature: Walled Gardens on the net have boomed before.. but always eventually died. People tire of living behind a wall.
Anon 1 - Point 5 whilst contentious is worthy of debate. One should not underestimate the West's understanding of Islam or the self portrayal without Western media hype. Common sense should prevail and benevolence redirected to other worthy courses. Finally the Home Secretary is coming to his senses curtailing Islamic rooted ASBO behaviour from inciteful groups :-) We've reached Tipping Point at last!!
Just an opinion from Anon 2 in hopefully polite society ;-) critising effect of Islam on World Peace
Happy New Year!
It’s my first comment in 2010!
The likelihood order and my comments:
1. 1 - but still nothing can beat an old fashioned paper diary, post-it note and/or inviting people via phone or in person!
2. 6. highly probable but not for me.
3. 2. also probable a happening if in ‘first world competitive environment.’ I’m against it though unless it’s truly medically necessary. I find it very sad and disturbing for some to choose this route. It’s known that any medication while it may fix function A in the body, it ultimately can cause problems for functions B & C. I wish that people do not rush in search of short-term solutions as such. Their sought nirvana will be delusional. The mind is a great magnificent gift that can be easily enhanced organically without such meds. Meditation is scientifically proven to do wonders. It’s the fast paced world that forces people to seek faster solutions to cope rather than teaching us to be still within ourselves. I don’t think it’s Darwin’s survival of the fittest anymore. The fittest can crumble under pressure. The one who will last is the one who learns how to be still within themselves. This allows clear thinking despite the sky’s falling down!
4. 3. sounds reasonable.
5. 4. unlikely given the seven/nine lives myth and now that you upset both camps i.e. dogs and cats they’ll either come after you in droves every time you are on your beloved bicycle or you will be a cat or a dog in your next life and they’ll make you blog about it;-)
6. 5. highly unlikely this year. I don’t claim to be an expert. However, having worked before in some predominantly Muslim societies , I say you’ll have to wait way longer for this – decades, generations! Keeping in mind that the initiative for such discussions to be widely accepted will not come from the you and me, it will most probably come from the young Muslims / new free thinkers generations who have had exposure to both worlds i.e. east and west. They truly aim to remove the black cloak that cover such discussions in a transparent, non-judgmental manner, and free of blind anger and revenge. They would be the ones who truly want proper reform in their respective countries and lives. They do not suffer identity crises i.e. they are capable of intelligent debates, knowing who they are, and knowing what’s at stake. Their definition of the west is educated. Due to their freedom of thought they would be able to bridge the gap, while not necessarily closing it from the first try, it would certainly help in correcting how we are perceived. As the Western society vision in their eyes would be in a better light and not based on pirated dvds and cheap magazines that depict a sad ugly degenerate picture of our society as a bunch who just drink Pepsi, and Alcohol, have free sex, wear jeans, chew gum, and listen to Brittany Spears, ALL THE TIME…(sadly that’s what I saw and heard) In the same token for us to have better unbiased understanding of their religion and traditions (BTW I agree with what Anon said) At the end of the day, it is all about respecting the differences. I think there is hope for change and it is afoot but it will take time. I think with a collective effort of technology that remove borders (loved google recent move with China), good charismatic leaders, good businesses, and good individuals it’s bound to happen!
Post a Comment